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1."I don’t know if it’s okay for students to improve their English listening through music.I think it’s an interesting way to practice, but how can we plan it better?"
Great question! Using music is a great way to frame any skill. Here is a suggestion for an activity with music:
Explain to students that the language in music is not the same as academic or spoken language. It is written and then sung for musical enjoyment.
Activity:
Pick an appropriate, popular, and safe song. (I suggest Panic! At the Disco's "High Hopes")
Print out the lyrics on half sheets of paper. You can pick one section of a song. Don't print whole thing.
Pass out the lyrics and have the students listen to the song.
You highlight words or sentences that you want to discuss on a PPT and present it.
An example is:
"Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing
Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes"
Talk about the sentence.
"The line shooting for the stars is interesting to me. I think the singer is singing for anyone who wants to have hope. I think it means to aim really high because to see stars I need to look up. If i had a gun or bow, I would have to aim high to shoot. I think this is an example of the singer talking about aiming high or having high goals. Maybe the singer wants all his listeners to have big goal and to try their best. I really like these words."
Now have students pick a sentence in the lyrics you provided, and demonstrate how to ask questions. Put the questions on the PPT.
Person A: Who do you think sings this song?
Person B: I think a guy wrote the song because he was sad.
Person B: Who do you think sings this song?
Person A: I think a politician wrote this song because...
Person A: Who do you think the listeners of the song are?
Person B: I think teenagers are the listeners. Young people need a lot of hope.
Provide questions on a PPT such as:
Who do you think sings this song?
Who do you think the listeners of the song are?
Why did they write this song?
What does the song mean?
Are there any words or sentences that you like?
Are there any words or sentences you don't understand?
At the end of class, ask some students to share what sentence they pick and ask them some questions from the PPT.
You can then redo the same activity in the next class by having the students bring in their own songs. Make sure to tell them to pick a song they would share with their mother. (This will help you because they will less likely pick inappropriate songs)
2."I have watched Ted Ed, it is the animation department of Ted Talk, and I am wondering if I can use those videos in my teaching."
Ted-Ed Videos or any videos are good resources. Just be careful of the content of the videos.
Here is a suggestion for an activity with a Ted-Ed video.
SETUP
First find a Ted-Ed video that matches the theme you are teaching. If you are teaching about social media, look for a Ted-Ed about social media.
Watch the video and note anything interesting or inappropriate.
Select your video you want to present.
Check if the video has a transcript. This is helpful if you want to look at the language spoken.
ACTIVITY LESSON PLAN
Prepare students to watch the film by asking simple questions related to topic. You can do this as a class or as small groups. EX:
What social media do you use the most?
What other social media do you use and why?
What is good about social media?
What is bad about social media.
Transition and tell students that they are now going to watch a video about social media.
You can review vocabulary you found in the video on a PPT before they watch.
You can also provide thinking questions students can pay attention to.
Play the video 2 to 3 times.
First time: just watch the video.
Second time: take notes on the video.
Third time: review or ask them to answer questions.
Break the students into groups and put up discussion questions on the board or PPT. EX:
What was the video about?
What was the purpose of the video?
What did the video talk about that you already knew?
What did you learn from the video?
How is social media changing Taiwanese society?
Have the students practice asking each other and let them know each group or person will answer a question to the class.
At the end, ask the groups or students to speak to the class.